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EveryDay Coaching

March 03, 2017

I like to think that as leaders we only have one priority: Our customers, and their service and purchase experience. Everything else we do supports that priority.

Some of what we do to support that priority is more important than other parts of our job. First, being an OutFront frontline leader. Making sure the customer priority stays the priority.

Second, coaching and developing the staff to deliver the best possible service and sales experience. The more we help our employees be even better, the better the customer’s experience. Perfect since that’s our priority!

Here are three leadership tips/reminders to help you accomplish this goal.

1. See YOUR day as a series of choices. As a young manager I often felt like my day ran me, as though I had no control over what was going on. At the end of the day I was exhausted and had accomplished hardly anything I planned to do.

Nothing changed until I realized that I always had a choice about what I did. I could delegate. I could put something off. I could knock something off my list quickly. Most important, I learned to challenge myself by asking, "Is this the best use of my time at this moment?"

When a leader has a choice, they’re able to keep the customer and his/her experience as the priority.

2. See your actions as words. It was Gandhi who said that action expresses priorities. Your staff won't always follow what you say, but they'll do what you do. Your actions tell your staff what is most important each and every day.

It's not the memo. It's not the training video. It's what you, as a leader, do day in and day out that communicates what's important. Many leaders do not communicate a customer priority in what they’re doing.

Of course you have many other things to get done in addition to working with customers. Leadership is choosing the right time to do them. Frequently reminding your staff to interrupt you when they get busy.

Making sure your staff knows that customers come before any other tasks and activities you've asked them to do.

3. Make time every day to coach and lead on the floor. Again, when we develop our people, we improve the experience. Following through on our priority.

Most people work from a to-do list. I believe leaders should start that list by blocking out the time they're going to be coaching and leading their team. Everything else works around that. This isn't when you're "working the floor" or “hanging out in a cube” but when you're coaching and leading. There's a big difference.

So let me ask, how well are you leading a customer priority?

How to use this article

Discuss with your leadership team how well they communicate and act a customer priority, and in which of these areas they can improve. Take a moment also to brainstorm two or three more things they might do to improve their prioritization.

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About Doug: Doug Fleener, the former director of retail for Bose Corporation, is a speaker and consultant known for bring fresh approaches and powerful actionable ideas to clients and audiences around the world. Learn more at DougFleener.com.

February 08, 2017

Not long ago I had a conversation with a manager who is struggling in his job. The company is unhappy with both his performance and his attitude.

During our discussion I could see there were three key issues creating the performance gap between where he currently was, and where the company wanted him to be.

1. Lack of clarity on HOW to close the gap. This is common; I see all too often. A manager will sit down and tell someone where he/she is falling short, and where he or she needs to be to close the gap. What's often lacking is any idea of how to get from the current place to the goal.

Most managers aren't even aware of this. They assume the employee knows how to get where he/she needs to be, or that they covered it in the meeting. You might ask why the employee doesn't tell the manager they don't know how to do what they're being asked. Well, often they too assume they know how, or they don't want to show any weakness when they're already struggling.

Here's a simple test. Your employee should be able to tell you exactly what he/she is going to start doing, or stop doing, or do differently, and it is something you should be able to see or hear them do. That last part is critical.

2. Lack of a specific plan to close the gap. It makes no difference if you're trying to help an employee grow her average sale by $4, or she is on final probation. As a leader, your role is to partner with your employee in creating a specific plan to close the gap.

It should not only include the "how", but also specific day/dates of when you or another resource will be assisting them. If can be something as simple as: We'll meet every Tuesday morning for four weeks to practice and roleplay.

3. A poor attitude is usually born out of frustration. Most employees want to do a good job. They get frustrated when there is a performance gap, and as a result they get a "bad attitude."

More often than not, if you focus on the first two factors you'll almost always take care of the attitude. If not, you can address that after the person is demonstrating the required behaviors and actions.

As a leader, your role is to help every employee deliver the best performance possible. That often includes helping someone close a performance gap.

So let me ask, who on your staff might need some help closing his/her performance gap?

How to use this article

As a group, discuss what you might do differently to do a better job of leading and coaching your staff through current or future gaps.

About Doug: Doug Fleener, the former director of retail for Bose Corporation, is a speaker and consultant known for bring fresh approaches and powerful actionable ideas to clients and audiences around the world. Learn more at DougFleener.com.

January 22, 2017

The three biggest barriers to successful coaching your employees are Me, Myself, and I. Once you get past those internal gatekeepers you become a much more effective coach, one who can help employees grow, develop, and reach new heights of performance.

Here are a three things those gatekeepers sometimes tell you, and why you should not listen to them.

1. "You hurt someone’s feelings when you tell them they're not doing a good job."

First of all, your gatekeeper has it wrong. You're not telling her what she is doing wrong, you're helping the employee do something better.

Second, you rarely hurt someone's feelings by giving feedback. We're all adults. Employees are fine hearing feedback as long as it is done respectfully in a way that they can hear.

2. "If you give him feedback he's going to get mad and that will affect the team."

Wrong, gatekeepers! Rarely does the person get mad, and if he does you talk it through with him. If he continues to act mad, then you tell him to stop it.

Here's what affects teamwork... not addressing an issue, or letting someone on the team consistently fall short of expectations. Remember this: Drama is unresolved conflict. Don't let issues fester and you won't have drama.

3. "Don't say anything now. Wait a few days and address it then."

I'm glad that gatekeeper is in management, not medicine! If you're bleeding, do you wait a few days to address the problem? Of course not. The sooner you address an issue, the sooner you are on the way to making things better.

The same is true with people. You rarely need to wait to give your staff feedback. Do you purposely wait days to praise someone? Of course not.

People want to be successful. They want to do a good job. The faster you give them feedback the faster they are on the way to doing just that.

So let me ask, are your internal gatekeepers getting in the way of you coaching your people to be even better?

How to use this article with your leadership team

Discuss as a group how internal gatekeepers can get in the way of successful coaching your employees. Have people share how these and other gatekeeper messages can impede their helping the staff be their best. Last but not least, ignore those gatekeeper messages!

August 11, 2016

One of the most important aspects of a frontline leader's job is to develop the leaders that work for them. Here are three suggestions for better developing your frontline leaders:

1. Delegate more than tasks. There are three level that you can delegate: tasks, responsibility, and complete accountability. Too many leaders only delegate tasks to their managers, which gives them no true opportunity to lead.

When you delegate responsibility, you hand it off to the other leaders. She owns it, but you still consider yourself accountable. When you delegate accountability you are no longer involved at all. You should be delegating all three levels.

2. Create a specific individual leadership development plan. Every leader you coach should know exactly what his strengths and areas of opportunity are, and have a very specific development plan for you to help him be even better.

Don't fall into the trap of being too generic, saying things like, "Be a better coach." Be specific. "Work with all associates whose average sale is below x amount, and report back on a weekly basis for four weeks." is the sort of thing you want.

3. Give immediate feedback on her leadership and coaching. This is one of the most overlooked actions a leader can take when coaching a leader. Tell the staff the other leader is in charge for the day, and to only come to you in an emergency. Now spend your time observing how the leader leads and coaches her team.

Give her feedback in the moment so she can apply it immediately. This is a great exercise for all managers, not just those who have been recently promoted.

So let me ask, how are you doing coaching your leaders? Which of these three suggestions can you apply to help your leaders become even better? What specific actions will you take this week help your frontline leaders be more effective?

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 844-861-7803 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com. Sample a Sixth Star University online training program at SixthStarU.com.

July 26, 2016

Here are three tips and reminders for how to effectively coach customer engagement:

1. Observe to elevate performance. There are two coaching mindsets. One is coaching to correct; trying to see what people are doing wrong. The other is coaching to elevate performance or, as I often say, to be even better.

When you coach to elevate, you're closely observing the fine details of each associate’s customer engagement. You're looking for those small details to help him or her better connect with their customer.

What's your mindset? Do you observe your associates to see what they're doing wrong, or what they can do better?

2. The more timely the feedback, the faster the impact on performance. A storeowner recently told me how effective her monthly one-on-one meetings are. She said she always has lots of good ideas for each employee to use to improve.

While I complimented her on having a coaching focus, I asked why she waited until her one-on-ones to give the feedback. Her answer? That's what she's always done. Remember, the sooner you deliver the feedback, the faster the associate, the next customer, and the store, can benefit from a higher level of engagement.

How quickly do you give your associates feedback? Do you deliver the feedback between customers, or do you wait until the next Take Five or other meeting?

3. Avoid giving "pinball" feedback. I recently worked with a manager who did a great job coaching her team throughout the day. The only problem was that her feedback was all over the place. She bounced from one thing to the next. That's what I call pinball feedback.

The most successful coaches narrow their focus. They know that associates will always be more successful focusing on just one or at the most two things at one time to work on. Giving feedback in too many areas will almost always result in the employee doing nothing.

How narrowly focused do you keep your feedback? At the end of a day, how many elements have your associates been asked to focus on? If you keep that number low, there's a good chance your sales results will be high.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 844-861-7803 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.Sample a Sixth Star University online training program at SixthStarU.com.

June 15, 2016

An important part of your job as a leader is empowering your staff. When you think of empowering, most people think about giving staff the authority to make decisions.

While this type of empowerment is certainly beneficial to delivering a good experience, there is a deeper and more impactful level of empowerment. That level of empowerment is giving your staff the confidence to be able to create their own success.

That's true empowerment. Just think about having that belief and the ability to control your own destiny. When your staff is that empowered... look out! They will find a way to be successful.

Here are four actions service selling leaders take to empower their staff:

Consistently connecting actions with results. Empowering leaders always reinforce what actions lead to what results. For example, some managers will tell staff they need to achieve a certain number of daily try-ons, "because that's the expectation." Empowering leaders always champion the idea that the more try-ons, the better the results, "So let's do at least x number of try-ons today."

2. They give each employee a balanced perspective. Focusing only on what an employee does well is easier for a manager, but it's not empowering. "Empower" means to make someone stronger. We make people stronger when we help them improve. People can only improve if they are aware of what they need to improve in. Hence, we empower when we focus on what people can do better as well as what they already do well.

3. Teach - Observe - Coach - Repeat! Empowering leaders know they always need to be teaching their staff the small details that create a more engaging and productive service selling experience, and then help them execute it by observing and coaching them.

4. Focus on solutions, not problems. There are two types of staff. The ones that focus on why they're not achieving the results they want, and the staff that is always looking for what else they can do to exceed their goals. The difference between the two staff is their leader. One is empowering, and one is not.

So let me ask, how empowering are you as an EveryDay Coach and Leader?

How to leverage this article

Discuss with your leadership team the different ways you empower the staff. Remember, "empower" as in giving confidence and the ability to control their own results. Additionally, talk about the ways your team, as leaders, can be even more empowering.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 844-861-7803 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.Sample a Sixth Star University online training program at SixthStarU.com.

March 09, 2016

A sweet spot is where a combination of factors results in the maximum response for a given amount of effort. In sports, the sweet spot is the place on a bat, club, or racket at which it makes most effective contact with the ball.

In people, a sweet spot is where a person's passion and personal strengths come together to create optimum success.

As leaders, it's important to not only help people identify their sweet spot, but also to maximize and expand it. Here are three tips for coaching and developing your employee's sweet spot:

1. Discover a person's purpose. It's important to know what makes each person happiest at work. This is the spark that fuels performance.

For example, an associate recently told me she loves being able to help a customer treat herself to something new. As a result, I was able to help the associate see that she does that with every customer, even if the customer didn't mention it. Given more purpose, the associate's sweet spot was expanded.

2. Show an employee how her success in one area can transfer to another. Most employees know what products they do well with, but don't always know why. Take time to observe the employee so you can see and hear exactly what she does to be successful

Now transfer that to another part of the store or company. Roleplay and practice with the person so he can experience why those actions translate to another area.

3. Stretch your employee's comfort zone. I believe that most people have a vast amount of untapped potential. Not that they don't give maximum effort, but that they haven't necessarily been challenged in new and different ways.

One way to expand a person's sweet spot is to give them new responsibilities that leverage what they already do well.

Here's an example. I once asked an amazing sales person to come up with a seven-point plan to increase sales in a specific area of the store. This person had no management experience, and had never done anything like this. At first she was overwhelmed with the idea, but I explained to her why I knew she could do it.

I asked for seven points, as I wanted her to really stretch her thinking. She not only came back with some excellent ideas, but also ended up implementing them, including a new training for the staff.

So let me ask, how have you been expanding your staff's sweet spot? The bigger the sweet spot the higher the level of performance, and that's sure to make your customers, you and the staff all very happy. And that's sweet!

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.

February 24, 2016

One difference between a good leader and a great leader is his or her ability to identify and maximize teachable opportunities. A teachable opportunity is when a leader can use any given situation to develop an employee's knowledge and skills.

Here are four ways to identify and maximize specific teachable opportunities:

1. An associate asks a question. When someone asks a question it means that the person either needs information, or thinks they don't have the ability or authority to do something.

How to maximize. Unless the person needs an immediate answer, ask him/her to suggest some answers to the question. I like to ask for multiple answers, because that requires the employee to think it through at a deeper level. Ask the person to explain his or her answer. This gives you additional information to shape the teachable opportunity.

2. When an employee makes a mistake. This is one of the most obvious teachable opportunities.

How to maximize. Don't over-focus on what went wrong. This usually results in the employee becoming guarded or defensive. None of us like to make a mistake! Instead, focus on what the person can do differently the next time that same situation arises. As above, ask the employee to explain his or her answer. This way you're sure they know why they want to do something differently. If they can't, you can teach the "why".

3. Asking for an employee's opinion or input. This is one of my favorites. Not only is this an opportunity for the employee to learn, but you learn, too.

How to maximize. The key is to position the input as future based. Don't ask what she thinks went wrong with the last event, ask what she will do differently with the next event.

4. Debriefing after a customer interaction. After the employee has worked with a customer, ask them to answer these two questions:

i) What did you do well when working with your last customer?

You’re asking the employee to self-assess their strengths. This will give you an opportunity to praise their performance, or use the information to focus your conversation on other things they might do to improve their performance.

Example answer: "I exchanged names with the customer. I discovered what colors and styles she likes, and I also got her to try on different products."

ii) What might you do better, or differently, with your next customer?

This isn't about what the person did wrong. This is a learning opportunity to identify what they can do to improve. His/her answer gives you a lot of insight to the employee’s understanding of the engagement standards, and his/her ability to execute them.

Example answer: "I could have taken the time to show the customer one of the many new items we got in."

How to maximize. Make it a regular part of how you and your staff engage when not working with customers, and where no customers can hear you.

Teachable opportunities occur throughout your day. Make a regular habit of identifying when they arise, and then make a conscious decision to either take advantage of it or not. You'll be amazed how much faster your people will grow and develop when you take the time to maximize these teachable opportunities.

So let me ask, how well are you identifying and maximizing your teachable opportunities?

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert and speaker/consultant, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.

January 13, 2016

Years ago I heard a wonderful story on the radio that has stuck with me ever since. I believe it directly relates to Every Day Coaching and Leadership, and the impact we have on our people.

Two frogs were hopping along when they both hopped into a deep hole. In a panic, they started jumping as high as they could to escape but the hole was just too deep.

A group of frogs gathered on the surface and started yelling down to the frogs that it was too deep for them to jump out. Both frogs kept jumping, but to no avail. The crowd at the top continued to shout that trying to jump out was futile and they should just give up and die a peaceful death.

One of the frogs in the hole finally did just that. He took their advice to give up and just lay down and died. The other frog continued to jump and the crowd continued to urge her to give up. Eventually, the frog made a HUGE jump and leapt right out of the hole.

The crowd of frogs on the surface went wild. They couldn't believe she had saved herself from such a deep hole. When they asked her how she was able to do the seemingly impossible, the frog replied that even though she was deaf, she knew the crowd was yelling encouraging words. Because of that, she didn't want to give up. Love it!

The story reminds me of three important coaching elements around encouraging your staff to be even better:

1. Encouragement can help people overcome challenges and seemingly impossible obstacles. The people who work and with us need to hear that we believe in them, especially when we’re challenging them to be better. Your employees need to know that you believe they can increase their sales or average sale, learn new skills, take new actions with a customer, etc.

I can personally look back and see where a leader’s encouragement changed my life. I probably didn’t know it at the time, but that encouragement helped me reach a level of performance I never would have achieved without their encouragement and coaching.

2. People try harder when they know that others are pulling for them. It’s human (and maybe frog) nature. We try harder when we know that someone else has an emotional investment in us.

Here’s something many leaders need to remember. Encouragement has no value unless you share it. You can’t just think good thoughts about your team. You have to tell them! It also helps to share the “why” behind the encouragement. Why you need them to do it, and why it will benefit the customer and/or the employee.

This is also another reason building a strong team of people who care about one another is so important to the customer service experience and results. Customers feel that connection and encouragement among the staff. This is why it is so important to remove drama in the workplace.

3. It's devastating to directly or indirectly quit on people. People know when a leader has given up on them. They can see and hear when a leader is encouraging other people, but not them. Instead of quitting on someone, sometimes we need to find another way for the person to achieve the desired results. It is amazing what a mix of encouragement and accountability can have on someone’s performance.

When that doesn’t work, then we need to help the person move up or out. You can’t afford to have anyone on your team that falls short of expectation.

So let me ask, how good are you at encouraging your team, especially the employee who might be stuck down in a hole? Does everyone on your team know you believe in him or her? If not, be sure and tell that person today that you know how successful she/he can be.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert and speaker/consultant, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.